Binding Of Isaac Blocked From 3DS Due To "Questionable Religious Content"

Bad news for anyone who was looking forward to playing the bloody indie sensation Binding of Isaac on 3DS: This dungeon crawler from Super Meat Boy creator Edmund McMillen apparently won't be coming to the handheld following a decision by Nintendo.

McMillen tweeted the unfortunate announcement late yesterday. In a follow-up tweet, McMillen confirmed that the decision was "due to the games 'questionable religious content.' He then took the opportunity to praise Steam for being such an open and supporting platform for independent and digitally distributed games.

Nintendo has not issued any public statement on this decision and isn't likely to, but I will say that I for one am disappointed if this is true. Sure, I can understand Nintendo asking that the game go through proper ESRB rating, but beyond that shouldn't the consumers who paid money for the 3DS be able to decide what they are comfortable purchasing and playing?

If you haven't played Binding of Isaac on PC yet and want to know why you should be annoyed with this decision, check out our review by Adam Biessener.

Hmm, technically, as a corporation, a decision like this is perfectly within Nintendo's rights to do. They are allowed to choose which games are and are not licensed to be played on their system. But they also risk alienating parts of their fanbase by doing so, especially those who were looking forward to this game. No matter what, it is unfortunate.

if someone's going to buy a game, LET THEM BUY IT. game companies shouldnt be too concerned with religion but sometimes lines are crossed. still, not having the option to purchase it or not is what gets people pissed off, there are both religious and non religious gamers, companies need to keep that in mind.

Nintendo wants to avoid angry parents or people in general and it is their right not to sell it. Much like the Call of Duty people not allowing swatiskas(sp?)for multiplayer decals. Even if it doesn't make sense.

You *** heads don't know what could happen.
If a kid end up playing this game and end up being offended by such religious content. Their parent will probably end up suing Nintendo for offering this game on eShop.

Nintendo is just trying to protect their fans and customers. IF YOU DON'T like Nintendo decision then *** off especially if you DON'T even have a Nintendo 3DS just shut up. There is nothing you can do about it. Geez such cry babies who can't even understand what Nintendo really is.

In a country where the top shows are family guy, south park and the simpsons, it's strange that they would exclude this game from their lineup. At least you can still get it on pc. But as much as it was the developer's right to make a game based on what it is, it's nintendo's right to not add it to their system. Everyone gets offended when their beliefs are infringed upon but nobody seems to care when someone else's are. And that goes every direction.

I understand that the handheld is aimed at children and Nintendo wants to avoid controversy in a sensationalist society, but at the same time, implement proper parental controls and then spin the responsibility back to the parents for letting their children run wild and unsupervised. There is no reason, provided BoA is given a proper ESRB rating and gated accordingly, that they should outright ban a title from their store. It's wrong.

Well this Isn't the first time Religion has played a part in running the course for Game content. During the time Halo 2 was being developed the Arbiter had a different name with deep religious signifigance in the middle east. Now I cannot recall what the name was but its was a bit better than The Arbiter. However it didn't cause the sidelining of Halo 2.

As a Nintendo fan, I'm not happy with this. Why can't I decide if I want to play it or not? Though as long as they don't start banning retail games from coming to the handheld, I can look past it. Even if they did ban retail games, I wouldn't give up on them (but I really hope they don't).